WARREN Man pleads innocent to charge of murder

A Sept. 30 pretrial hearing has been scheduled. By PEGGY SINKOVICH VINDICATOR TRUMBULL STAFF WARREN -- A 20-year-old Newton Falls man has pleaded innocent to a capital murder charge. Chad Karpenko of Warren Road entered the plea Monday before Judge Peter Kontos in Trumbull County Common Pleas Court. A Trumbull County grand jury indicted Karpenko on Friday on an aggravated murder charge with death-penalty specifications. The specification is that the murder took place at the same time as another crime. Karpenko also is charged with aggravated burglary. Karpenko, who was paroled from prison March 11 after serving about three years on a burglary conviction, is accused of killing Harvey Hill, 66, of 596 Hillsdale N.E. on Sept. 3. Attys. Maridee Costanzo and Roger Bauer, who represent Karpenko, declined to comment. Judge Kontos ordered Karpenko held without bond and scheduled a pretrial hearing for Sept. 30. A trial date will be set after that. Karpenko was brought in by police the day after the shooting. Police said his fingerprints were found on a window frame of the house. Police said Karpenko told them he visited the house the week before to look at firearms. Night of slaying An affidavit filed with the court by the county prosecutor's office says that shortly after midnight Sept. 3, a man dressed in black and carrying a handgun stumbled into two parked police cars moments after the officers heard a single shot. The man ran into a wooded area, where police lost him, but officers found a Colt .25 semiautomatic pistol with an attached flashlight. A second firearm, a Colt .32 revolver belonging to the victim, was found in the same general area later that day, police said. As officers chased the gunman, a 911 call came in from Hill's house. Two officers went and broke into the dwelling about 12:30 a.m. to find Hill bleeding on the floor. sinkovich@vindy.com